eFinancialCareers

The mood on Bay Street is turning sour. Until now, Canadian banks have been insulated from the turbulence of the U.S. financial markets. Most avoided sub-prime mortgages and other risky investments and maintained high capital ratios, a sign of a financial institution's health. However, that's all changed and bank CEOs now openly worry the U.S. recession is drifting northward. As their bottom lines come under pressure, banks are beginning to trim their... Read more

TD Bank Financial Corp., parent of Toronto-Dominion bank, and its corporate cousin TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. are continuing to hire workers, giving good news to Canadian job seekers worried about financial problems flowing north from the U.S. Toronto-based TD Ameritrade Holding has been adding sales and support staff to attract and retain customers - to the point where personnel expenses soared by $27.7 million, or 25.6 percent, in its quarter ended... Read more

The Canadian securities industry continues to bask in the glow of positive publicity. Whether that translates into job gains in finance remains to be seen. Canada had its biggest monthly gain in employment in at least 30 years in September, as employers added 106,900, about 10 times more than what economists had predicted, according to Bloomberg News. A survey from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada found that 78 percent of... Read more

Battered by its exposure to the U.S. real estate market and attempting to rebuild its securities business, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce got a $1.05 billion (Canadian) investment from the U.S. private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. The investment will be in CIBC's U.S. residential real estate portfolio, which as of June 30 had a fair market value of $1.18 billion, according to the Toronto-based bank. Cerberus' investment will be... Read more

Buoyed by the strong Canadian dollar, banks are on the hunt for acquisitions. Unfortunately for job seekers, they are finding their best deals in the U.S. Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest bank, reportedly held acquisition talks with embattled Wall Street firm Lehman Brothers Holdings, indicating the continuing interest of Canadian banks in snapping up distressed companies in the U.S. In April, shares of Bank of Nova Scotia tumbled after... Read more

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, the Canadian bank hit hardest by the burst of the U.S. housing market, is on a recruitment drive. It's looking to add people both at its CIBC World Markets division and its retail banking unit, say Canadian recruiters. Barrie Carlyle of David Alpin Recruiting, which does work for the bank, says Toronto-based CIBC also is kicking off a new "aggressive marketing campaign with respect to bringing... Read more

Although Canadian banks have weathered the economic downturn better than their U.S. counterparts, they're not immune to it. Later this month, the banks will report their quarterly earnings, and job seekers will be looking for any hint of plans to reduce headcount. Analysts expect Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, which has already announced cuts, and the Royal Bank of Canada to announce writedowns of more than $1 billion (Canadian), according to... Read more

The days of Canadian financial services firms going on hiring binges are long gone, but unlike in the U.S., major layoffs aren't looming. Officials at the Investment Industry Association of Canada expect firms to continue hiring this year, though not as robustly as they have in the past, says Executive Director Ian C.W. Russell. Many companies are also reluctant to let go employees, especially those who've received a large investment... Read more

Canadians working in the securities industry don't want their work to be their life, or their life to be their work - even at a time when employers are trying to do more with less. Twenty six percent of CFOs recently polled by Accountemps said heavy workloads were the greatest source of work-related concerns for finance and accounting professionals in Canada. Work/life balance ranked second in the survey of 270 finance... Read more

The latest quarter was one that many Canadian banks would rather forget. That may make them less eager to hire. After reporting a loss of C$1.1 billion, or C$3 a share, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce announced plans to lay off 100 people from its CIBC World Markets. Other big banks, though they didn't announce any cuts, also had dismal results: Profit at Royal Bank, Canada's No. 1 lender, slumped 27... Read more

The ranks of Charter Financial Analysts in Canada are growing. More than 9,990 are registered to take the CFA exam in June, up 68 percent from 5,914 in 2006. Bob Johnson, deputy chief executive of the non-profit CFA Institute, says that's a sign of growing interest in the certification by employers, and the greater availability of training at colleges. Moreover, Johnson says, the number of candidates taking the exam for the... Read more

First the good news for accountants: There are plenty of jobs out there. Now the bad news: Some recruiters say salaries are rising at a slower rate than they have in previous years. Candidates with backgrounds in taxation, auditing and International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) are commanding premium salaries even as companies grapple with a slowing economy, according to Toronto-based recruiters. Having the designation of Chartered Accountant is an advantage for... Read more

Demand for financial advisors is expected to be brisk even as the growth in the overall Canadian job market slows. The need for professionals to help people with their financial and retirement planning is outstripping the supply of candidates. Positions are opening up because of the retirement of Baby Boomers and the general labor shortage, according to Advocis, the Financial Advisors Association of Canada. "Banks are hiring aggressively," says Taylor Train, an... Read more

Canada's economy is showing signs of weakening, which may give financial professionals pause. On March 21, the Canadian dollar had its biggest drop since 1985 amid concerns that a slowing U.S. economy would reduce demand for commodities, says Bloomberg News. "We might see further weakness in the Canadian dollar if commodities continue to lose ground," Scotia Capital's Camilla Sutton told the news service. In addition, Canada's strong dollar has made Canadian... Read more

Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is giving its 1,300 financial advisors 100 million reasons to stay. The big Toronto-based bank is offering the brokers a total of $100 million (Canadian) that would advance them as much as $300,000 in the form of loans that would be forgiven over 10 years if they remain with the firm, according to The Globe and Mail. A company spokesman didn't return our calls seeking comment... Read more

The subprime mortgage meltdown doesn't seem to be having a major impact on the hiring plans of Canadian financial firms. Indeed, the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management hasn't noticed any slowdown in recruiting activity on campus, according to Jeff Muzzerall, the school's director of business development. "All of the companies that recruited last year continue to recruit, including the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, The CPP (Canadian Pension Plan) Investment Board,... Read more

Over the past few years, Calgary has joined Houston and New York as a leading hub of energy trading. Keeping its desks staffed remains a challenge. Competition remains fierce not only among Canadian firms, but with big Wall Street companies and players eager to hire people away from the frigid north to the somewhat warmer climate in the U.S. Still, there are plenty of opportunities for financial professionals in the industry,... Read more

As Wall Street lays off thousands of workers, financial institutions in Canada are hiring. Still, the economy north of the border isn't immune to the sub-prime mortgage crisis pressuring U.S. banks. Financial professionals have reason to be optimistic about the job market to the north. For one thing, the Canadian dollar continues to perform strongly in world currency markets: In September, it reached its highest valuation versus the U.S. dollar since... Read more

This is a good time for financial professionals who are fluent in Chinese, Japanese or other Asian languages. Why? Consider: Big Japanese banks may pump billions of dollars into struggling Wall Street firms, says the Times of London. The trade deficit with China continues to break records and Chinese markets attract U.S. investors worried about volatile stocks. South Korea's economy continues to be strong, as is Taiwan's. Though there are openings... Read more